According to the owner of Falcon Air and former Director of the now defunct Dutch Antilles Express (DAE), Nelson Ramiz, he had to make a painful decision to voluntarily surrender his companies Air Carrier Certificate.

Ramiz stated that his divorce battles were too intense and for a long period of time, which killed any possibility for Falcon Air Express to continue operating safe and in compliance with the regulations.

“In my more than twenty years, I have always put safety over economic and personal gains,” said Ramiz in his emails to several local business and aviation authorities.

The airline was established in 1995 and started operations in March 1996. It was then privately owned and was founded by Emilio Dirube (President and Chief Executive). It was certified as a US domestic airline in 1998, operating the Boeing 727-200 to mostly Caribbean destinations.

In May 2006, Falcon Air Express filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and laid off 73 of its 169 employees. However, in 2009, it was bought by the Ramiz Family and after some years of restructuring, as of December 2011, they were once again employing over 150.

In the two months preceding the June 5, 2015 closure, the workforce was reduced to about 50 employees, all working with the promise they would be paid in the near future. When the company finally closed, many of these employees were left owed the equivalent of over two months’ salary.

Falcon Air Express also provided scheduled service from Miami to Curaçao under the banner Dutch Antilles Express (DAE) which also filed for bankruptcy in 2013.